Recovering
by DarkRedWillow
Summary: After the events of Grave, Willow is sent to England, where her rehabilitation will be far from easy.
1. Chapter 1

Note: I had this idea in my head for a long time, so I decided to write it down. This fic takes place about two weeks after Grave. Buffy spoilers for season 6 up to the season finale (obviously) There isn't real timeline for Angel, but I guess it would be closer to the beginning of the series.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the vampire Slayer, Angel or any characters of the Whedon verse. *sad sigh*

***************

The Hyperion Hotel was quiet on this late night of may. Angel was in his appartment in the basement, taking a shower after a nasty battle with a Mykos demon, an annoying creature that likes to spit a sticky mucus on its opponant in order to choke them to death.

Luckily, Angel had been the one on the receiving end of the mucus, so the non-breathing issue hadn't been a problem for him. In the lobby upstairs, Charles Gunn was busy cleaning and putting away the weapons, while Wesley and Fred were chatting about researching the demon's presence in LA in Angel's office.

Sitting at her own desk, Cordelia was putting together a file on the Mykos demon for future reference, when the main door opened. Cordelia didn't bothered lifting her head to check who it was, letting Gunn do the greeting job. Light high heeled footsteps made their way up to Cordelia, and stopped right in front of her.

Curious when she didn't hear anything from Gunn or their visitor, the ex-cheerleader finally looked up, and her mouth fell open.

"Buffy?" Gaped Cordelia.

Buffy Summers was standing before her, looking slightly nervous. Cordelia stared openly at the slayer, making no efforts to hide it. Last time she saw Buffy was when she left for LA...three years ago.

The brunette felt a little pang of jealousy looking at her Sunnydale friend, because she had to admit it, Buffy looked good. Her hair was a bit darker and shorter than when she last saw her, and the dark jeans and cream-colored shirt she was wearing fitted perfectly her delicate body. Completed with her knee lentgh black leather jacket, the blonde seemed to have jumped right out of a fashion magazine.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted and Cordelia blushed when she realised that Buffy was talking to her. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Buffy smiled lightly at her, rather enjoying the look the young man behind her and Cordelia were giving her. 'Who knew that one day, Queen C would actually looked jealous of me? Wow.'

"I said, hey Cordelia. How are you?"

"Oh, hey, Buffy! I'm sorry, it's just you're pretty much the last person I expected to see here tonight."

"I understand, it's no biggie. Hum, is Angel around?" Asked Buffy, glancing to her right as she noticed two figures coming out of the vampires office. "Hey Wes. And I guess you're...Fred, right?"

Wesley's eyes widened at the sight of his former charge, but found he was rather pleased when she amically greeted him.

Fred, though, was more frozen, seeing for the first time the young woman other than in pictures.

Wesley approached Buffy with his hand raised while the scientist followed him shyly. "Buffy? I must say, this is one astonishing surprise! What brings you to Los Angeles so late at night? Is everything okay?" The ex-watcher noticed for the first time the young womans' fatigued features, and the faint circles under her eyes.

"Yeah, just been a long couple of weeks. I dropped Dawn at my father's this afternoon for a few days, and I was on my way back. So, is Angel around?"

"I'm here." Angel mumbled. He was still angry at the demon for having spit on him and ruining his clothes and was in deep brooding mode when the sudden appearance of his ex-lover in his hotel made him lose all thoughts about mucus, brooding and such.

He was shocked to see Buffy there, and instantly thoughts of the worst when she turned to look at him.

The vampire was beyond relieved to see she looked much better than when they met a few months ago, shortly after the slayer had been resurrected.

But he knew something had to be wrong by the way she was observing him, her subtle struggle to stay calm and poised.

"Hey." Both said. "You think you have a few minutes? I'd like to talk to you. If you want, of course."

Angel smiled warmly at her. "Of course. You want to go downstairs, or outside?" 'Please don't say downstairs', begged the vampire. "I'd rather go outside, if you don't mind?"

Cordelia observed closely Buffy as Angel neared her, and how the vampire was careful not to touch her on their way out. "Wait!"

Both slayer and vampire paused and waited for her to talk. Cordelia opened her mouth to talk when the look Angel sent her made her rethink her decision. "I just, I wanted to know if everything was okay? Cause normally, you and Xander and Willow are always together. Oh god, did something happened to them?"

Angel saw despair flashed on Buffy's face, but it was gone so fast no one else noticed it.

"Yeah, I just need to speak to Angel about...stuff. It was nice seeing you guys." Announced Buffy softly as she resumed her walk toward the door.

Angel followed her, rising his hands in the air as he mouth the words 'I don't know' to Cordelia who was glaring at him as if he was keeping a secret from them.

"Wow. So that's the Buffy chick that was dead last year?" Exclaimed Gunn after the pair had exited the hotel.

"Shut up Gunn. What the hell is going on?" Cordelia demanded the gang. "She looked so sad." Remarked Fred, taking a place on the lobby couch.

"I don't know, I hope whatever is happening, Angel will be able to help her." Wesley whispered.

***************

Angel stayed a few steps behind Buffy as she led him around the block on a small park nearby.

"Buffy?" The slayer half-spinned to peeked at him, but remaining silent. "Where are you taking us?" The young woman sighed as she looked around. Somewhat satisfied, she stopped and slumped on the sidewalk. Angel gazed down at her worrily.

"You made us take a detour around the hotel to sit on the sidewalk? You know I have comfortable chairs and couches back at my place."

"I didn't want the others to hear." Buffy admitted, her eyes lost in the distance. Angel sat ruefully next to her, feeling a shiver running down his spine at his former lover's distracted condition.

"I always liked that part of LA. I mean vampires, burglers and evil aside. I used to come around here when I was little. Did I ever tell you that?"

"Buffy, what's going on? It's not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, but I'm pretty sure you didn't came all the way here to talk to me about your childhood habits." The vampire was starting to freak out, he was far from loving the odd vibe that was coming off of Buffy.

"Everything's falling apart." She managed to let out, a faint whisper. "No. It's not falling apart, it already fell. Nothing's ever going to be the same."

The vampire fought the urge of take her in his arms, and never let her go. But he knew if he do that that Buffy would stop talking, and she obviously needed to let out whatever was disturbing her. "Buffy, what happened? You said everyone was fine, that Dawn was at your father's, what's wrong?"

Buffy looked at Angel with tear-rimmed eyes. "I took Dawn to our father because she needed to get out of the house, because she needs to do normal stuff for one, even if it's just for a few days."

"Okay, you're scaring me, what the hell is going on? Nobody's dead, so-" Angel shut himself up when Buffy flinched at the dead part. Dread suddenly filled him and squeezed his non-beating heart tight.

"Buffy..."

"Tara died." Buffy said, her voice no more than a whisper. "Willow's girlfriend."

Angel was at a loss for words. He had only briefly met the young shy woman once, when he went to Sunnydale after Buffy...But he saw the love the two witches had for each other, and how Willow or Dawn always seemed calmer whenever the blonde wiccan was near them. His heart went to Willow, who must be so devastated with grief right now. "Oh god, Buffy I'm so sorry..."

The vampire reached out and took the slayer's hand, trying to comfort her. "I know it's stupid to ask, but how did Willow take it?"

Buffy didn't answered right away. Her eyes were focused on the vampire's hand, who was absently stroking his thumb over her hand. She kept quiet several minutes, until she found her voice again.

"They were doing so good again. The last months were hard on everyone, but Willow had more than her share of crap." Buffy released her hand from Angel's and crossed her arms over her chest. She leaned slightly forward and rested her elbows on her knees, her eyes staring at the cold concrete.

"Willow...Will started to have problems after she brought me back. No one really saw it at first beside Tara. She knew Willow was becoming addicted to magicks, but we didn't back her up, not really. I didn't want to have anything to do with her magick problems, all I kept thinking about was how much I didn't want to be there."

Buffy, lost in her thoughts, jumped when a car turned the corner after burning a red light. Glancing briefly at Angel and seeing he was listening intisy to what she was saying, she went back staring at the road.

"Long story short, Tara left, and it took some time but Willow realised she had a problem and she quit doing magicks. She worked on getting better, until Tara granted her another chance to make it work."

"They got back together on tuesday night. I mean they were so exuberant the next morning it was almost painful to watch. But you know I thought, 'hey, if they were able to work it out, maybe it means that I'll be able to pull through too, that things will get better again. Things would get normal." Buffy scoffed bitterly.

"Next morning she was dead."

"She was hit by a stray bullet that was meant for me." The young woman finally met Angel's sombered eyes, one single tear falling down her cheek. "She got up that morning, got dressed, and was probably talking to Will or something and then she was dead, shot in the heart. She didn't even had a chance."

Buffy slumped even more on the sidewalk, as if she was hoping it would swallow her whole. Angel stared at her, his mouth slightly open. He started to reach out, but by the way the young woman's hands were clenched into fists, he settled for sitting closer for the woman he loved.

He was still thinking about something to say when Buffy spoke again. "I don't even remember anything. It all happened so fast I, should've felt him, felt something. I only remember Xander freaking out, and pain. I didn't know, we didn't know what had happen before it was too late."

The vampire analysed what he heard, not wanting to trust his ears. "You were shot too?" He growled.

The small blonde sniffled and ran an absent hand just over her chest, where the bullet had hit her. "It's nothing, it's gone anyway. Will...Willow fixed it."

"Oh." Thoughts of a grief-stricken redhead suddenly filled Angel's head. "I know I was angry when you came last time Buffy, but for one I can't say I'm sorry she did it this time, it must be horrible enough to have lost Tara, imagine if she had lost you as well."

Angel gently commented. But the vampire worried when Buffy completely stilled beside him. He could practically see the tension emaning from the young woman. It took him a couple of seconds to realise she was desperately attempting to keep her emotions in check, which meant something else must have happened. "Buffy?"

An urgent sense of dread quickly overwhelmed the vampire at the lack of response from Buffy. "Buffy? How is Willow doing, how is she coping? It must be horrible for her, but she know you and Xander are there for her, right? She will get better, you'll see."

"Buffy?" Angel was seriously starting to freak out. He felt his insides freeze as Buffy slowly lifted her head to look at the star-covered sky. Her eyes were shining with tears and she was fighting to hold them in. "Buffy, you're scaring me, what happened to Willow?"

The young woman's voice was so soft it sounded foreign to Angel's ears. It reminded him of the time Buffy had discovered the prospect about her death against the master. A voice tainted of fear, pain and incomprehension.

"She killed him."

"N-no, I mean, Willow is too kind, too soft, she yells at you if you kill a bee, she's not..." Rambled Angel, couldn't let himself believe what Buffy had just said, he did not want to have to believe that. But the heartbreaking sob that came out from Buffy shattered his efforts of denial.

"She lost it. She got back on the magicks big time. God she practically drained almost every book from the magic shop. Then she killed him. She tortured him, and then she flayed him alive. We tried to stop her but she just kept pushing us out of her way, and, and-

"Shhhh, come here." Angel wrapped his arms around the young woman and held her tight as she cried. The vampire focused on comforting her as he desperately tried to not think about Buffy had just said, but it was no use. 'God I think I'm going to be sick'.

His prayers were answered when Buffy slowly pulled away from him, distracting him from his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't come here to dump all of this on you." She apologized.

Angel smiled softly at her and brushed his thumb on her cheek, wiping away the tears. "It's okay Buffy, beside you know I'm always here if you need anything."

Buffy nodded weakly while scruting intently her shaking hands. "We fought. Willow and I? She kicked my ass so hard I was still seeing birds when Giles arrived."

"Of all the crap I've endured and dealt with, having to fight with my best friend was the last thing I ever wanted to do."

"Angel? How do you deal with everything? How are you able to get up every day, with everything you did?" Buffy whispered, not looking at the vampire.

She stood up abruptly and began pacing. 'Pacing is good! If I walk, maybe I'll be able to keep myself from crawling onto Angel's lap and wish he never let me go again.'

Angel wasn't fooled by Buffy's defensive move. She was trying to keep it together, and her question was legitimate, considering. 'Why does that shit keeps happening to them? Wondered grimly the vampire. Slowly he rose and went over her, and placed a cool hand on her shoulder to make her stop.

"Buffy, I'm not saying it'll be easy for her, but she will get through it, she has you guys to help. How is she doing? You didn't answered before. I know that she already has you and Xander, and Giles and everyone, but if we can do anything to help, don't hesitate, ok? When is the funeral? we could come and give a hand, if you want."

Buffy's eyes finally focused on him for the first time since they came outside. "Two weeks ago." She replied quietly.

"What?"

"The funeral was two weeks ago. I'm sorry."

"Oh. It's okay. I mean, I know we didn't know...Tara, but we could've at least show our support to Willow and everyone." Angel mumbled.

Buffy glared angrily at the vampire. "I'm sorry, Angel, but considering Willow herself wasn't there, there wasn't any point inviting anyone!"

"What do you mean she wasn't there? How could she not be there?" Angel was shocked, to say the least.

"Giles left with her the next day. He took her to a coven in Devon. The witches there knows Giles well, they were going to try and help her deal with everything. He didn't want to wait too long before going. I'm not even sure she realised what was going on anyway..." Explained Buffy, the pain and hurt clear in her voice.

"He took her to England? Why? Not that it's my business, but even if those witches could help her, wouldn't it be better if she had stayed with you? How come being dragged accross the ocean and being stripped from her family be of any good? He asked incredously.

"Maybe because she tried to kill us all! I don't believe she was doing it on purpose, but still! If Xander hadn't been able to reach her and pulled her back from her rampage, you wouldn't be here either!" Buffy nearly screamed.

"Giles dosed her, but it backfired. His brilliant plan to make her feel again made her feel so much pain she wanted to end it. She wanted to bring forth the end of the world, Angel! You got over it, but how is she going to live with herself, knowing she tried to destroy the world, knowing that she hurt us? Buffy whimpered.

Angel just stood there, his mind reeling with everything Buffy had just said. He shook quickly his head to keep it from going crazy. "Do you still love her?"

"What?"

"Willow. Even with what she did, do you still love her, would you still be ready to help her to get her back?"

Buffy observed Angel, confused. Until what he said finally registered. "Um, yeah. I mean yes, I still love her, but-"

"There is no buts here Buffy." Angel attempted to explain. He knew it would hurt them both, but it was the only thing he could think of to help Buffy, and Willow. "I tried to kill you, more than once. I tried to kill Willow, I threatened her, and your friends, and your mother. I-"

"You killed Jenny." Buffy finished for him.

Angel looked down briefly. "You still took me back. Willow was the first to forgive me, even after I wanted to destroy you, and her, and after I killed someone I'm pretty sure would've have become like a second mother for her. But she forgave me. _You_ forgave me. How is it different for her?"

The slayer stared hard at the vampire in front of her. She expression soon softened and tears appeared in her eyes again. "I just want her back...I want her to be there, with me, and laugh, and get that mischievous smile she gets when she's in a good mood...I don't want her so far away with those women doing God knows what..."

Angel got close again but she stopped him with her hand. "I'm okay. I just..."

The shrill ring of a cell phone startled the two. "Oh, that's me." Angel exclaimed after the drill continued annoyingly. He sighed when he saw the number.

"Let me guess, Cordy?" Buffy teased, wiping her tears once again.

"It's okay, she's just worried. I'll call her and we'll be good for a while. I hope." He mumbled.

"Nah, it's okay, I really should go. I told Xand I'd loan him the jeep for the day."

"You sure?"

Buffy smiled weakly. "Yeah. But thanks for listening to me and my crying, you didn't have to."

"Non sense. Just think about what I said, okay? Chances are it will be like hell for her to get back from what happened, but if you show her that you guys still care, it'll give her something to hold on too."

Buffy nodded, grateful when Angel stepped closer and engulfed her into a tight hug.

"You can tell the others, about Tara, but don't say anything about Will that's too specific, okay?" Buffy asked.

"No problem, just enough to keep Cordy off my back promise."

***************

Angel made his way into the hotel lobby twenty minutes later, after watching his former lover up until her jeep was out of view. He ran down the south part of town then and killed the first demons and vampires to had the misfortune to cross his path. His viciously attacked them, letting out his pain and fury.

"Angel! What the hell happened to you?!?" Yelled Cordelia as she saw him entering the hotel. " Oh my God, did you guys fight again? I swear, who does she thinks she is?!?"

"Cordelia!" Angel shouted. "I'm fine, I just did a little patrolling after Buffy left, that's all."

"Oh. So, what did she want then?"

Cordelia patted the couch next to her, frowning when Angel sat with a grunting sound. Wesley and Fred hovered close, the young scientist taking a seat in a chair nearby.

"Angel, is everything alright?" Wesley inquired when the vampire didn't respond. They all looked at each other, their expressions going from worry to fear. Only Gunn, standing in the middle of the place, had a look of curiosity on his face.

Angel looked up, and sighed when he saw his crew and family watch him intently.

"It's, hum. It's Willow, her girlfriend Tara died two weeks ago. Someone was aiming for Buffy, but a stray bullet hit her." He said quietly.

"Oh God." Cordelia was the first to speak. "Died?" For the first time in a really long time, Cordelia was at a loss for words.

Wesley held Fred close when he heard her start to sob. "That's terrible...two weeks ago you said? Why haven't we heard about it before?"

"Yes! I mean, we could've help, send flowers, do something!" Shouted Cordelia.

"You okay Fred?" Asked gently Angel, seeing how upset she was.

The brunette nodded softly. "I just, Willow must be so sad, she looked so distraught last year when she came to tell you about...um, and I mean Buffy was her friend. I can't imagine what it must be for her to have lost her girlfriend..."

"We should go, and at least tell her how sorry we are, show that we care, right?" Questionned Cordelia.

Aware of the eager noddings coming from everywhere in the room, Angel knew he had to say a little bit more. "We can't. Willow, she's not in Sunnydale anymore."

A chorus of "what", "how" and "huh" answered the vampire. "After, after...she was too broken, so Giles decided to take her with him to spend some time in England with him."

Angel saw the look Wesley shot him at the mention of England. Shaking his head in hope for the ex-watcher to keep quiet and not try to investigate, he sighed, reassured when Wesley just nodded before going back to talk to Fred.

"But-"

"There is no but, Cordy. Buffy said it was the thing they could do right now to help Willow, so it's not our place to judge or anything. She said she'd give us more news when she'd get some, end of story."

Tired and not wanting to talk furthermore about what Buffy had told him tonight, Angel stiffly stood up and announced good night before retreating to his appartment. As he went, his thoughts went to Willow, and hope the coven, that he had heard of a few decades back, would be able to help the young woman, rather than to inadvertently hurt her.

The end?

I had an idea to continue this thread, more from Willow's pov during her stay in England. Should I continue, stop? Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Fast footsteps echoed into the mansion's vast hallways. Rupert Giles took a turn at his right and climbed the two flight of stairs before making a final turn to his left. The difference in the air as he entered the south wing of the mansion was palpable.

Every window was open, so the warm afternoon breeze could come in. The rain was falling outside, its sound softly filling the small sitting room and yet, an overwhelming feeling of A young woman rose from the couch and went to meet Giles as he approched. "Mr. Giles, hi."

"Maegan. What the bloody hell is going on? There wasn't any session planned for today!" Giles hissed as he took a look at a dark wooden door on the far wall. He'd come as soon as he got the call telling him the head of the Coven had decided to perform yet another binding spell on his protégé, even though a powerful one had been already cast the day before last.

"I'm sorry Mr. Giles, but the previous spell showed signs of weakness this morning. It seems she breached it this morning." Maegan revealed, disdain clear in her voice.

Giles scowled at her."I thought you'd promise Mrs Harkness you would stop passing personal judgment on people. You are doing a great job, isn't it?"

Maegan glared at Giles as he walked toward the wooden door. "I am only stating the obvious! She should not be here, she-"

"I would be very cautious about what you are about to say, miss Tornwood. Do we need to have another very uncomfortable conversation?" Warned miss Harkness as she stepped out and closed the door to the room.

Maegan bowed her head. "No miss."

"Glad to hear it. Now why don't you go downstairs and help prepare dinner?" Maegan opened her mouth to protest, but knowing answering would just put her in more trouble, she promptly left.

"I am sorry, Rupert. We tried to reach you, but we did not want to wait too long, it would've made it harder to perform, and for Willow as well."

Giles removed his glasses and started cleaning them, refusing to meet the witch's kind eyes. "How is she?"

Miss Harkness moved to sit on the couch. She crossed her legs, and waited patiently for Giles to look at her. "She is holding on. I'm worried Rupert, I won't hide that we are genuinely surprised that she is still with us. But if she keeps deflecting everything we do to help her, I am afraid there will not much time left."

Giles inhaled sharply. He walked slowly to the window and listened to the rain, hoping it would soothe his frazzed nerves. "She is not doing it on purpose, Margaret. I'm pretty sure of it. It's just instincts, have someone triny to bloody kill you and you will most probably react the same way!"

"We are not here to kill her, but I do get your point. Maybe..."

Giles turned at the woman's hesitation, and met her gaze. "Maybe what?"

"I know we talked about this before, and that I was against it myself at the beginning, but maybe...it isn't meant to be." Margaret put her hands up to stop whatever Giles was about to shout and quickly finished what she had to say.

"I have never met someone surviving to the insane amount of magick your poor girl inflicted to herself Rupert, and yet, I am talking about pure magick. The darkness she willingly harnessed will most likely stay bound to her, we can't just strip her from it."

"So you suggest to just let her die, see how long it takes?!? There has to be a way to save her, you could try and help her to heal and, if she...makes it, you could teach her to control her powers, or something!"

Miss Harkness rose from the couch and smiled sadly at her friend. "If there was even the smallest chance Willow would recover, I would gladly think about it. But face it Rupert, there is no way she will ever be the same, no matter how strong you say she is. Abusing dark magicks the way she did always has consequences."

Giles stared hard at the wooden door close to him, and wondered in what condition he would find the young witch today. He knew the probabilities were far from good for Willow, but he refused to listen to the pessimistic prognosis from the Coven. She had to make it, for her sake, but also for the others. Giles feared that, in the eventuality that she...he wouldn't have the strentgh to face Buffy and Xander with the dreadful news.

"Margaret?" He asked. "I am beyond grateful you and the rest of the Coven agreed to help Willow, but I must warn you. There will be no more 'dying' talk, especially around her. And I do not want Maegan around anymore if her only purpose is to disrupt my daughter's recovery. Are we clear?"

He saw the older woman's jaw clench tightly, but she looked him in the eyes and nodded. Without awaiting for a verbal response, Giles reached out, opened the door softly and entered.


	3. Chapter 3

Callie looked up from her novel when the door opened. The dark-haired woman smiled faintly upon seeing the English man coming in. He was obviously angry, but she had to admired his efforts to calm himself enough as to not stress out the young redhead even more. "Hello, mister Giles."

"Good afternoon Callie." Giles grinned at Callie. He was glad she was the one monitoring Willow today. She was one of the rare members of the Coven to be able to see his surrogate daughter for something else other than an ungodly creature.

Giles laid his eyes on his young charge. 'Maybe Margaret's right.' he thought with chagrin. It pained him so much to see Willow like that, that he wondered if his stubborn efforts to save her really was the right thing to do.

He watched her, still laying down on a small mat on the floor. He frowned on how frail she looked in her simple white tank top and pants. 'They're only making her wear white', he reflected absently, thinking on how much paler and thinner it was making her look.

A heart monitor was standing close-by, its low beeping sound assuring the young redhead was indeed still alive, despite her pale features and her shallow breathing.

"How did she do this time?" He inquired softly to the older woman.

Callie rose from where she was sitting cross-legged next to Willow and stood next to Giles. "I think she did better. She resisted at the beginning but...Maegan subdued her until the spell took hold." Confessed half-heartedly the witch. She wasn't approving of the younger member's methods herself, but they didn't have the choice to act that way.

"She still hasn't break into a fever yet, and there wasn't any bleeding, so I personally think she's reacting better to the bindings now." Callie quietly commented, observing Giles as he bent next to Willow, and as he lifted her up carefully in his arms, avoiding stepping on the tubes in the process.

Callie joined him and helped him put Willow to bed. The redhead didn't even flinched when Callie accidently tugged on the IV in her arm, which concerned greatly Giles. "It's okay, mister Giles, it will take her at least a few hours before she becomes aware of her surroundings again." She explained, feeling bad nonetheless for hurting the young witch.

After making sure Willow's vitals were still normal, Callie went on to open slightly the thick curtains covering the windows, and then open one of the wide windows to let the warm breeze to enter and air the room. "I'll leave you alone for a bit, I'll come back later to make sure she stays stable."

Giles nodded and only briefly glanced at the woman as she left. His attention went back to the young redhead on the bed. He contemplated her for several minutes before his hand reached out and tenderly brushed away a few strands of copper hair off of her forehead.

The old watcher could hardly believe the young woman lying next to him had once been the bright and lively hacker, science-geek, slayerette and fellow researcher he had came to love as if she was his own daughter.

He was aware that even though Willow seemed deeply asleep, it was far from the truth. He knew she was in fact unconscious, exhausted from today's intervention.

He wished she would stop fighting the binding spells they were putting her through so she could at least have a chance to get better.

Giles sighed deeply and turned off the volume of the heart monitor. The sound was driving him nuts, and he was sure that, on some level, the redhead felt the same way.

"I talked to Buffy today", he started to tell her. "She and Dawn are okay, Xander too. They all miss you, you know? Even if you messed up they still love you Willow, and they want you back. So could you stop being a bloody pain in the arse and let us help you?!?" He grunted.

"I am running out of lies, you know? Xander believes me, but I know Buffy is suspecting I am not telling her the truth." Whispered the watcher. He removed his glasses and put them on the small table next to the bed, and closed his eyes.

"No one here really believes you are doing better, Willow, and it terrifies me because I am slowly starting to agree with them. So what do you say we make a deal, yes? Now I know there's nothing you hate more than to be judged, and to be underestimated. And even if you had never wanted to admit it, you do love to prove me wrong."

"So prove me wrong Willow. Prove me you are still there, and that you are still fighting. If not for yourself, do it for us. For Xander, for Dawn, for Buffy. And prove those old crones how bloody wrong they are for underestimating a Hellmouth girl, alright?" Demanded Giles, softly stroking his thumb over her limp hand.

***************

"mister Giles?"

Giles startled. He looked up and realised he had fallen asleep. The room was darker, and the curtains were closed once again. The man glanced quickly at Willow and noticed with disappointment that she was still asleep. He sluggishly stood up and winced when his back cracker badly. "Are you okay, mister Giles?" Questionned Callie.

"Yes, don't worry." Giles glimpsed at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise. '6:19? I've been sleeping for the last four hours!', he realised. "How is she doing?"

"A little better. There's still no fever, so I'm pretty confident it worked." Smiled Callie.

"There are tea in the lounge if you want, it should still be warm." She offered, while putting up a thicker blanket on the bed, making herself sure Willow wouldn't be cold during the night.

She occupied herself by tidying up the room as she waited for another witch to take the relay for the night. 'Unless mister Giles stays the night again.' She thought.

Callie understood the other members's fear toward the young woman, after all she did do some pretty heavy damages in her home town.

But, deep down inside her, she kept imagining what kind of kid this girl had been, and she was sure that, on some level, she could see the shy and loyal teenager Giles had described to her inside the tormented young woman she had taken care of for the past three weeks.

Callie was busy lighting a few candles on the other side of the room. Vanilla-scented candles seemed to helped calm down the redhead at night, so she had started doing it every night, glad she had found a little something to please their 'patient' during her recovery.

The dark-haired woman was humming to herself as she lighted the candles. It was only when she'd stopped after a particular off-key part that she heard a slight tussle coming from inside the room. She half-grinned, half-sighed, knowing it meant Willow was regaining consciousness. Callie walked carefully toward the bed, knowing any sudden movement or noise could set off the young redhead.

Callie stopped abruptly two feet from the bed, shocked, when she saw the Willow was actually awake. She was clearly confused and disoriented, but her eyes were open and blinking weakly against the harsh light coming from the lamp on the small table.

What upset Callie the most is when she was able to take a look in the redhead's eyes, saw that they were green. She knew about the the young woman's irises color, but had only briefly glimpsed at them once or twice, her eyes being almost constantly a shade so dark it was almost black due to the withdrawals symptoms and the binding spells.

"Hi, Willow", called softly the witch so to not scare off the young woman. She slowly moved closer to the bed when she noticed that Willow was more or less aware of her presence in the room, but was too weak to move around in her bed to see who was there.

Callie kept still at the edge of the bed, and her heart skipped a beat when her eyes met Willow's. 'She has such pretty eyes' thought the older witch, amazed. "Do you want me to go and get mister Giles?"

The witch could tell Willow was trying to talk, and watched her frown in frustration when the only sound coming from her mouth was a faint whimper.

Callie backed off slightly to go get Giles but stilled as she noticed Willow's cloudy gaze was desperately trying to follow her. 'Giles', she called telepathically, 'Our young patient seems to be awake.'

She smirked as she distinctly heard the cup being put back promptly on the table, and when the door was being open less than five seconds later. Giles made his way to the bed quickly, thanking the woman with a nod.

"I'll go get miss Harkness, it will give you a few minutes together." Informed Callie before trotting to the door. The witch thought her heart would burst out of her chest in joy when she heard the soft "Giles" that came out of the young girl. 'Goddess, please let it be real and not just some temporary improvement'. She silently pleaded while walking rapidly down the halls.

***************

Reviews are always appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

The rain had finally stopped during the night. The hills surrounding the Coven's mansion were in covered in thick clouds of fog, which were currently keeping the early morning sun from entering the third floor rooms.

It was the first time in the last week that the curtains were stripped out of the top west tower's windows. It was normally the only part of the building that remained cloistered at all times.

Margaret Harkness was slowly closing the distance separating the small green house from the mansion, using the narrow trail that ran on the entire property. She had been up for hours already, carefully gathering and preparing several medicinal oils that would be needed in the upcoming days.

Against all hope, their newest charge had been significantly conscious for the last two days. But, unlike miss Maines and, to some extent, Rupert, she was not ready to shout out in victory. Not yet. If she was honest with herself, Margaret would admit about actually dreading the young witch's potential recovery, since there was still no way to tell what the consequences would be for her.

But she was willing to give her a chance. _One_ last chance. She owed it to Rupert. She owed it to a young woman who sacrificed herself to fight along the slayer for years now.

Her decision to accept Willow within the Coven had raised a heated debate. Several sisters considered that the young Californian had transgressed every Wicca rule there was over the years, which in their book was as worse as Willow's actions themselves.

They only agreed to welcome her because denying her any form of help was a sacrilege against Wiccan religion and because, as Rupert put it so nicely, 'her magicks saved everyone's arses countless times, and now it's our turn to return the bloody favor'.

Miss Harkness ran a slender hand through her short tinsel hair and smiled as she inhaled the soothing smells of the pines nearby. Once it was settled, it didn't take long for her and Rupert to come to a agreement. The Coven would need to focus first on stripping as much dark magick leftover as possible from the young woman without killing her.

No one in the Coven was fully prepared to take charge of such a sick and grieving girl though, remembered the woman. She was almost certain that Rupert had kept informations to him so her sisters and herself could see by themselves they weren't welcoming a monster.

'And by the Goddess he was right.' But, world saver or not, precautions soon had to be taken against the girl when she fought back any attempt at having her powers forced out of her.

The fear quickly replaced the sympathy that felt the witches when they first saw the broken redhead in the watcher's arms.

Only Callie had willingly offered her help, for which every other healer was thankful. So miss Maines, miss Tornwood and herself had been relaying each other during the day while Rupert took care of most of the nights.

Margaret was aware that the man did not loved some of their methods, but more drastic measures were the only ones available at the moment, they still were.

Having to deal with an uncooperative witch had pushed them to get rather creative, what with their choices of spells and the use of rather unorthodox medicinal ingredients.

And, because they had been forced to improvise at the beginning, one of the most experienced witch in the dark arts field was now working full-time on finding and creating spells that would, if necessary, coerce their patient into submission.

The old woman glanced one last time on the luscious green gardens around her before her eyes settled once more on the wing that contained the infirmary, and on the opened curtains. Rupert had told her again and again how much of a fighter the young woman was, that she was worth the efforts.

Margaret trusted the watcher but still had doubts. All she could hope for right now was that the redhead had finally run out of whatever stamina that kept her going, and that she would let them do their job.

The list of safer spells was rapidly coming to an end, and if Rupert had hated what they had to do before, he really wasn't going to love what Maegan had come up with to tame his young charge now.

***************

A pair of bleary green eyes stared vacantly at the shades of green that could be seen through the fog outside. Willow shut her eyes when a faint ray of light lazily made its way to the window, sending a searing pain in her head.

She sluggishly moved her head slightly to the right, counted to three and carefully took a peek at her sight. 'A...chair. Wait. No, it's a table.' She realised. The redhead blinked a few times and tried again. 'Yep, definitely a table'.

Willow sighed and winced. Her whole body felt like it was trapped in a vice, and her back hurt like hell. She started to bend her legs and, after strenuous efforts, managed to roll on her right side, groaning softly when she was finally able to somewhat stretch her stiff back. Willow never thought muscles could be so sore. She felt like if she had running a marathon for the last week, even moving her fingers into what vaguely ressembled a fist was exhausting.

Part of her brain struggled to figure out why her limbs were so heavy, and why an act such as simple as moving around in bed was leaving her breathless and lightheaded.

Frowning in confusion, Willow desperately exert herself to remember what was going on. She gasped painfully as images suddenly filled her brain.

_Tara, smiling. Blood. Tara covered in blood. Tara dead in her arms. Blood. Warren in the woods, skinned alive. Blood. Buffy. Xander. Dawn. Giles. Blood. The terror in their eyes, the hurt, the betrayal. Tara. Dead. Tara dead._

Unable to breathe and overwhelmed by the vivid memories, the redhead's stomach twisted sharply, barely giving her the time to raise her head before getting sick in a strategically placed bucket near her bed.

Her throat on fire and tears rolling down her cheeks, Willow curled in a ball, shuddering under her thick blanket. She moaned in frustration when only her right arm stayed uncovered in the fresh morning air. She glared hazily at the IV and at the sheepskin restraint that kept her arm from seeking warmth under the covers along with the rest of her body.

Willow closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, wondering what she must have done this time to deserve them. 'What did I do...duh.'

The redhead knew the Coven and Giles were pissed at her, because she kept undoing what they were doing to her. She was trying so hard not to do anything but, everytime she would start feeling the tingling of their magicks inside of her, she would feel as if they were drowning her.

The weight crushing down her body would choke her and only leave place for darkness, pain and fear. So her instincts would take over and rip apart whatever spell they were attempting at the moment.

Unless they had given her a shot before. Goddess she hated those. They would made her feel sick and nauseous, and the last time she got one her heart started racing like crazy. It freaked her out, but at the same time...

The redhead might have been far from being herself ever since she and Giles arrived in England, she was still more aware of what was going on around her than the witches or even Giles suspected.

She thought about trying to tell Giles about it, but they only time the watcher seemed to be with her was after one of their 'treatments'. And by then she was so dizzy, disoriented and in pain that it was just easier to give in in whatever they had pumped her with beforehand than to even try to fight it. She used to at the beginning, but she soon realised they were more prompt at leaving her alone when she didn't, so...

Willow squinted her eyes and burrowed her head deeper under the blanket to avoid the stronger rays of sun coming in her room when she vaguely noticed footsteps in her 'room'.

The curtains were soon thankfully drawn, plunging the room into a much welcome dimness, allowing Willow to hesitantly lift her head to meet the newcomer.

"Hello, Willow." Maegan greeted her with a stern face.

***************

Sorry for the short update, there will be more soon.

And thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming!


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry I haven't updated in forever. Life got in the way of well, life, so.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Joss Whedon's Buffy verse characters, I only like to borrow them sporadically. I do own the rest of characters though, such as Callie, Maegan, Janet and Elizabeth.

Thanks for reading, reviews are always appreciated.

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"Yes. Yes, of course I promise you, Dawn. You just have to call me back saturday night and I will help you with your history homework. What? Yes, your night time, not mine, obviously." Rupert Giles chuckled. His smile faded when miss Harkness entered quietly his small cottage home after knocking.

"Tell Buffy I will call her back later? Around five? Perfect." The watcher's features softened as he listened attentively at the teenager at the other end of the line. "I love you too Dawn. You take care of yourself and your sister, yes? Bye."

Giles hung up the phone slowly, taking all his time before facing Margaret. The man stared outside the window for a moment, letting the trees and the valley's luxurious greenes soothe him. It had been a good day so far, and the warm temperature outside, combined with a much welcomed sun after several days of rain, had helped to put him in a somewhat positive mood.

But Rupert Giles worried it was all about to change. Ever since the head witch of the Coven had asked to see him somewhere else than at the mansion, Giles had dreaded the witch's upcoming visit. Whatever she wanted to discussed had to be of the utmost importance if she had decided to leave her property.

Feeling the comfort of being on his territory for once, Giles turned around and stood to face Margaret.

***************

Willow eyed Maegan nervously as she stood at the edge of her bed. The woman before her seemed to be only a few years older than her, but was much taller and had short chestnut hair that formed spikes all over her head. But Willow wasn't about to underestimate the witch despite her young age. 'Heck, I'm probably younger than her and I've both killed and raised the dead, she can be much more than what she seems', reminisced sullenly the redhead.

Maegan's dark eyes felt like as if she was looking right through her, and judging her, which made Willow squirmed painfully under the witch's austere glare.

Willow didn't remember much of what happened since she first arrived at the mansion but she knew that Maegan wasn't to be toyed with. She learned it the hard way during her first week in England, when she had the oh so wrong idea to resist one of miss Harkness's intervention.

The sensation of an overwhelming pain before darkness engulfed her is the only thing Willow recalled from that day, except that it was night when she finally regained consciousness and that she hardly been able to move for two whole days after that.

It didn't take long for the young Californian to figured out the witches's intervention pattern. She discovered that even though they were several women coming and going in her room, only a few were making regular appearances.

A dark haired woman, who looked to be in her forties, spend a lot of time in her room. Often, when she would have recovered enough to start being able to pay attention to her surroundings, she would hear a soft voice floating around the large room, talking or reading to her.

Callie, if Willow had heard correctly, reminded her a lot of Joyce, what with the way she talked, or acted around her. She was always gentle and kind when she tended to her, even when Callie thought Willow was too sick to be aware of what was going on.

More importantly, the redhead welcomed the periods of the day Callie would spend with her, because it meant she wouldn't have to go through another excruciating magick-draining session.

And if miss Harkness was rather intimidating, the aura of calm and confidence emanating from the women was enough to ensure Willow of her benevolent intentions.

The only one the redhead felt she had to watch out for was Maegan. Willow had realized by now that the day would never end well if Maegan was around. Like today. 'Crap. I finally managed to let them do to me whatever the hell they did, why is she here again?' Wondered Willow anxiously.

"Are you going to stare at me all day?" Willow commented curtly. 'Great job Rosenberg, piss her off, that'll go well.'

Anger flashed briefly in Maegan's eyes, but Willow didn't flinched, although she tried to keep her glare as neutral as possible.

"How are you feeling this afternoon, Willow?" Maegan asked coldly, marching to the redhead's bedside to check on the IV. "Tried to break through the binding yet? I must say I am surprised you lasted this long."

'What's that supposed to mean?' Frowned Willow, althought she had a pretty good idea of what Maegan was implying. "I have rarely seen the Coven so stubborned about a lost case. They really owe to put our energies on something better, worth our attention."

'Yep, she wants me dead.' "I'm not-" She croaked before getting rudely interrupted by the older witch. "Oh, let me guess, you don't want to be here, you just want to be left the bloody hell alone so you can join your dead lover and be together forever. Isn't it sodding romantic?" Mocked Maegan, smirking when Willow glared dangerously at her.

"Don't. Don't you dare talk about her." Willow hissed.

Maegan leaned threateningly over Willow, her hand raising the redhead's chin so she had no choice but to look at her in the eyes. "I will talk about what I please, whether it is about your disrespect of the magicks, your girlfriend or your former friends in the States. Are we clear?"

Willow gulped with difficulty, hating herself for the tear that escaped and rolled down her cheek. "You don't know anything about me, or my friends. You think you're so great, but you wouldn't last a week in Sunnydale."

With a snort Maegan released Willow and walked back to the table on the back corner of the room. She rummaged through an assortment of boxes before coming back toward the bed, a new IV bag in hand. "Because you survived all these years doesn't prove you are better than the rest of us, _miss_ Rosenberg."

"Take a look at yourself now. Barely 21, your whole senior year in college went to hell, your friends despises you for what you've done. You are a murderer, your lover is dead, and you've spent the past weeks here, restrained to a bed when you should be dead or in jail, only because an old friend of miss Harkness's begged her to help you." Maegan ranted while adjusting the drip in Willow's arm before checking the restraint on her wrist.

"You are still here because I am the only one that can control your dark magick addiction right now. You do you have to say to that? Who's got the power now?" Maegan finished with a snicker.

The spiked haired witch felt with a discreet gratification the binding working its magick to contain the rage and grief of the young american. Her clenched jaw and tensed muscles showed her struggle to get a grip of herself, as well as she did her best to ignore her.

Maegan came closer slowly, stopping a few inches away from the redhead. Even with the binding she coud feel the power irradiating from her. Pure, strong, overwhelming. "Callie will be here in a little while, as well as mister Giles." She informed Willow softly before walking out and closing the door behind her, leaving in her wake a young redhead in pain and tears.

***************

"Are you helping Janet at the greenhouse today?" Althenea eagerly asked Callie. The young woman loved being with Callie. Since she joined the Coven, a few years ago, Althenea showed a great potential for herbology and botany. She spent most of her days helping growing herbs and helping preparing potions with Janet, the herbologist of the Coven, and miss Harkness, but she loved whenever Callie would come up and join them.

Callie looked up from her tea and smiled apologetically at the youngest member of the Coven. At nineteen, Althenea was brought here by her grandmother, also a member of the Coven, when she was just fourteen, because the teenager was experiencing excrutiating headaches.

They soon discovered the young african girl was in fact developping the abilities of a seer, and spent the following year helping her gaining control over her visions. Then, when her grandmother had passed away the following year, Althenea decided to take her grandma's place and officially joined the small Coven in Devon.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I am going to be spending most of the day with Willow." She explained while getting up and cleaning up the remaining dinner off the table, before preparing a small food tray consisting of fruit salad, cheese and juice.

"Oh."

Callie sighed, knowing that 'oh' was wildly popular these days. She was getting sick and tired of hearing it every time she was talking about the young redhead. "Nea, she needs my help and you know it. She needs _our_ help. I am fairly certain she could use to have a friend like you, you know? After all she is almost your age." She commented lightly, hoping to get a positive response from the girl.

Althenea stared at her as if Callie suddenly had grown a second head. "But, Janet says only the ones miss Harkness authorized can go and see her. And whenever I get close to her room my mind gets blurry and all weird."

"That's because you are trying to project and see her, don't you? It's not a good idea, Nea, you know about the protection spells that have been cast in the south wing. As long as you keep your mind open and calm, you will be okay. You could come with me, if you'd like?"

Callie scowled at the girl's confused and hesitant gaze. "You've been listening at miss Tornwood again, didn't you?" The dark haired witch softly stated while mixing a couple of herbs together before pouring them in a teapot, that she added to the tray with a cup.

"Maegan has a very different background as yours, Althenea. She sees something in miss Rosenberg that she doesn't like because it reminds her of her past and it clouds her judgement."

"Willow made bad decisions, and it cost her. It doesn't mean that she is evil, or a monster or whatever they've been bloody calling her. You would know that if you'd come with me. She is just a lost and grieving girl, Nea, you can understand that."

A grin slowly lighted Althenea's features whn she glanced nervously at Callie. She trusted her completely, so if she wanted her that bad to go and help her, that american girl couldn't be that dangerous. 'Even if she had the power to raise the dead', thought Althenea with a shudder.

"Okay, I'll go with you. But, if I start feeling all fuzzy and weird, I am leaving." She compromised, smiling fully now at her friend, before biting her lip and frowned. "Hum, Callie?"

"Yes, Nea?" Callie answered distractly, being busy putting a few drops of honey in the tea.

"About Callie, I am not sure you know, but there is been a change in the schedules. Kate couldn't make it this today, so Callie was the one tending to miss Rosenberg."

Callie turned around sharply, her full lips making an annoyed grimace. "Bloody hell."

***************

Giles watched miss Harkness climb into a frend's car and leave. He normally would have offered the woman to drive her back to the mansion, but he needed time to think about what Margaret had told him.

With a groan Giles slumped on his couch. His body hasn't fully recovered yet from his fight with Willow, despite the healing spells the witches had done to help him when they arrived in England. The watcher stared at the phone, almost begging for it to ring.

He had to make some serious decisions about Willow, and about Sunnydale, and soon. Giles didn't want to believe what Margaret had been patiently trying to explain to him all afternoon.

She carefully put into words Giles's worst fear of the past month. Willow was getting weaker. The constants purging and binding spells were wearing her down, and her body was more than exhausted from her almost famous magick overload.

Margaret had strongly suggested to put a lighter restraining spell on her before transfering her to a private clinic in Bath, where... 'Not bloody likely', Giles decided abruptly as he glared angrily at the phone.

'How am I supposed to make that sodding phone call?' He thought desperately. "Hi Buffy, it's Giles. How are you? Well that's bloody splendid! I was actually calling to tell that the Coven helped as much as they could, but the magicks Willow harnessed did more damages that we feared. Do you think you could fly here as soon as you can? I'm afraid she doesn't have much time left." Giles whispered, choking on the last words.

Giles stared hard at the pictures hanging on his wall, representing the core of his family. Various sizes of photos of Buffy, Xander, Willow, Dawn as well as Tara, Anya, Joyce and Jenny covered a good part of his living room wall.

'It can't end like this.' He repeated in his head over and over again. Giles took off his glasses and dropped them on the coffee table, welcoming the now blurry shapes of his home while his mind was reeling at full speed. He was already planning a plan B, an idea that he and Margaret had come up with earlier.

Reaching for his glasses with a new found determination, Giles left his seat and grabbed a notepad on his desk, and started scribbling down things fast. He was halfway down the second page when the phone startled him. He gingerly stretched to seize the ringing object, bringing it to his ear slowly. "Hello?"

Giles closed his eyes and took a big inspiration. "Hello, Buffy."


	6. Chapter 6

So sorry for the lack of updates lately. It won't take that much time for the next one, I hope. Reviews are more than welcomed!

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Callie hit the second floor in less than five minutes, Althenea on her heels. The witch had stopped briefly on her way up to talk to one of her fellow wiccan sister, prompting her to find Maegan and to send her to miss Harkness's class room immediately.

Althenea was doing her best to not let miss Maines out of her sight, but she was walking fast and the mansion was full of detours. She'd gotten lost more than once ever since she had joined the Coven and, to be honest, it still happened from time to time for her to get disoriented when she had to cross several wings before getting to her classes.

'Does she have to walk so bloody fast? It's not like the witch is in danger', she thought distractly while climbing the fourth staircase in just a few minutes. She knew that Maegan lacked tact sometimes, but she wasn't a bully. At least she didn't think so. The short-haired witch was one of the most talented Althenea had met in her short life, and she had been around witches for years.

There was an aura of strentgh and mystery surrounding Maegan's history and, even though both were amongst the youngest witches of the Coven, apart from Willow anyway, they never got as close as Nea wished it could be. 'Maegan isn't close with anyone', she remembered with a pout. 'Even if she has been here for years, she doesn't let anyone in. Apart from Callie and miss Harkness. And even then.'

Althenea sighed in relief when they finally entered the south wing. 'Wow. It's...cozy', she discovered with a genuine surprise. "Callie?"

The older witch stopped and turned to smile patiently at the young girl. "Yes, Nea? What is it?"

"Well, it's. Erm. Well, maybe I should-" Althenea stammered ackwardly, not letting her eyes met Callie's.

"It's been a while since you've done that. You're nervous about meeting her?" Suggested Callie gently.

The young girl nodded weakly before raising her hands to her head to soothingly rub her temples. "I don't feel so good, Cal." She admitted.

"What did I just tell you Althenea?" Don't try to read anything while you're in here, it won't work. Now close your eyes and take a big breath, and recenter yourself." The witch voiced softly, and watched patiently the girl's struggle to recenter herself. She eventually calmed down and reopened her eyes after what felt like hours for Callie. "I'm better now."

"Good, honey. Ready?" Encouraged the dark long-haired with a warm smile. "Just don't talk or come too close or, you know, make any sudden movements. Okay?"

"I'm kidding, Nea!" Callie backpedaled quickly when Nea's eyes widened in fear. "She's just really nervous and scared when someone new comes in. But," She continued while taking the girl's hand to keep her from bolting, "she's even more scared than you are Nea. You're with me, it'll be fine." The witch finished as she knocked softly twice on the dark wooden door.

Callie made her way inside quietly, closely followed by an anxious Nea. "Willow?"

The woman frowned at the darkness of the room. The drapes were normally always opened at this time of day so the redhead could see the scenery outside. She walked to the windows to let the daylight in, taking a peek at the young woman's still form on the bed in the process. "Willow, sweetie, are you awake?"

"It's rude of not answering when someone's calling your name," Mumbled Althenea before looking down at the disapproving glare Callie shot her.

"Maybe you wouldn't' be answering back either if you had just spent an hour with someone who hates you without being able to do anything about it." She chastised Althenea softly.

Callie opened the drapes slowly in case Willow was awake, so she would not blind her. The sunlight soon started to fill the spacious room, revealing a young woman tucked under the covers, one arm partially covering her face. Concerned that Willow still hadn't react to her voice, Althenea's or the sudden light in the room, Callie sat on the edge of the bed and gently put her hand on Willow's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Althenea came closer quietly as to not startle anyone by her presence. She watched curiously how Callie interacted with the redheaded girl. She was quieter and gentler than when she acted with anyone elss, and she kept herself completely open for the others to read. 'That's probably why she's always the one taking care of her, she's not even scared.'

She totally missed the upset look on the older witch's features when she carefully lowered the girl's arm and took in her tear-streaked face. Only Callie's angered voice snapped her out of her reverie. "Nea, are you listening or not?"

"Yes! I'm sorry Callie. What is it?" She answered sheepishly, trying hard not to stare at the redhead. 'Blimey, she looks younger than me!' "What? Oh, yes. One bowl of fresh water and a cloth and clothes from the suitcase, coming right up!" She repeated quickly before almost running to the joint bathroom to get what Callie had asked.

Callie pushed a strand of red hair off of Willow's forehead, sighing sadly at the fever that was affecting the girl. "You were doing so good, honey. What did she tell you to put you in such a state, eh?" She whispered softly, mouthing a 'thank you dear' as she took the already freshly moist cloth from Althenea.

"Is she sick again?" Nea wondered sadly. She had to admit she wasn't expecting someone to look so young and small. 'I really should stop listening to Maegan', she mused crossly.

Callie smiled weakly at the change of tone in her young friend. "Not what you expected, Nea? And yes, but I'll try to calm her down before she gets too sick." She explained quietly.

"How are you going to do that? You can make her stop being sick?" Althenea wondered, sceptically. She observed silently Callie tend to the redhead patiently, her touches soft and light, whispering words of comfort all along. Nea frowned when she thought she had heard something to do with Maegan being a 'jerk', whatever that meant, but let it slide, now certain the short-haired witch must have had something to do with the girl's present condition.

The young witch's errand thoughts were cut short when she noticed Callie freeing the girl- 'Willow' she reminded herself- from the restraint. "Erm, what are you doing?" She asked, hating her voice for making her look so nervous.

"I can't help her get changed if she's tied up now, can I ?" Callie scowled tolerantly.

Althenea blushed and nodded. She gave the clean pyjamas to the witch and turned around, counting the baby blue tiles on the ceiling. She was almost done when she heard Callie clear her throat. "So? How many tiles, Nea?" She asked, her tone indicating the girl's shyness amused her.

"124 so far, but probably 165 in total." She replied casually, ignoring Callie's teasing smirk. Althenea's eyes widened in surprise when she took in the scene on the bed. Willow was now dressed in a soft leafy green tank top and blue pants, and had her head on Callie's was still talking to her in a soft and soothing tone while stroking Willow's red locks gently.

Althenea smiled in amazement when she saw the redhead for what seemed like the first time, as her features were getting softer and calmer by the minute. "How did you do that?"

Callie sighed in relief and her smiled matched Nea's before glancing down briefly at the redhead sleeping on her lap. "Just an idea I thought I'd try. How would you feel if you had spent almost a month in a foreign country, torn away from your family and devoid of any human contact? No, scratch that, from any comforting human contact?"

"Everytime anyone touched her since she made it here was to hold her down, or restrain her, or poking her with needles and such, Nea. Only mister Giles showed her some affection, but he's not always here, especially when she's like this." The witch sullenly explained, before smiling at Althenea again. "So I'm guessing my theory worked, eh?"

"Yes, she seems much more calm and relax." Althenea stated happily.

"Excellent. And her fever's starting to drop as well. Now we just have to make sure Maegan won't come in here again for a while, at least until I've stabilized her energies enough to get her back on track." She decided, mouthing Maegan's name so it wouldn't' be heard by Willow.

A knock on the door startled Althenea. She quickly got up and went to answer, hoping the knocking hadn't disturbed the redhead. "Yes? Hello Janet!"

Janet, a tall brunette in her forties, stepped in the room nervously but stayed near the door, obviously bothered to have to come in the same room as the young American. "I was send to tell you that miss Maines was currently with miss Harkness in her private appartments. They are waiting for you as soon as you're...finished here."

Callie glowered at the new comer, perfectly knowing why she was being glaring at. "You can tell miss Harkness I will be down shortly, but that I can't stay long. I will need to come back here after."

Leaning against the wall, Althenea did not dare say anything, especially after Janet had sent her an icy look as well before leaving. "Ok, now _that _was rude. Right?"

"Yes, Nea. But she wasn't mad at you. Most of them don't understand why we are trying to help her." She commented sadly.

"Why, I don't get it." Althenea shot back, confused. She gazed around the room before settling back on her friend. Suddenly she got it. "Because you're holding her."

"Unfortunately, yes." Callie replied while gently shift the redhead from her lap to her bed. She half-smiled when she felt Willow begin to stir. 'It was about time, but the timing is really off, my little friend.'

An idea rapidly forming in her mind, Callie glanced intently between Althenea and Willow. "Could you do me a favor, Nea?"

"Of course, what?" The teenager asked instantly, thinking she was going to ask her to postpone her meeting with miss Harkness.

"Could you stay with Willow a little, just while I go talk with Margaret? It shouldn't take long, and it would give you two the chance to get to know each other."

Nea fixed Callie strangely. "Oh, hum, I'm not sure I am the best person to do that, and she is sleeping anyway, maybe I should go get someone else."

"Nea, please. I don't want anyone else here right now, and you saw her, she's not dangrous, everything's gonna be fine." Without even waiting for Althenea to accept, Callie leaned down and run a hand down Willow's arm. "Willow, honey? Wake up, it's me, Cal."

There was a short moment when Althenea thought of bolting out the door, and just deal with Callie's disappointment later. But she found she couldn't get her eyes off the girl who, after groaning softly in protest, was now almost fully awake, even if still a little groggy.

She realized, ashamed, that a part of her expected the girl to jump out of bed and kill them or something, as she was obviously barely strong enough to sit in bed by herself.

Althenea jumped back to the present when Callie called her for what was probably the third time. "Seriously Nea, can't you stay out of that funky brain of yours more than five minutes at a time?" She teased.

"Sorry, I-"

"That's fine, Nea, I was just kidding. So, I was telling Willow that you were to keep her company for a while. Just to keep you company, and nothing else, okay?" She added, her gaze directly focused on Willow.

"Great!" Callie exclaimed when both girls more or less nodded to the agreement. "So, Willow, this is Nea. She is a junior member of the Coven, she works most ot the time in the greenhouses, as her favorite subject is herbology and botany."

"And Nea, this is Willow. She's from California, as you already know, and she is what mister Giles says a "computer whiz". It means she's like a genius with everything that is related to computers, programs, softwares, and she's almost fluent in, what is it, four or five languages, sweetie?" She gently asked the redhead, ignoring her pleading look to stop talking about her. "Five. I suck at latin." Willow shyly voiced, wincing at the rough tone of her voice.

Althenea's impressed exclamation raised a proud smile on Callie's face. "Wow, that's, wow." Her dark chocolate colored eyes finally met Willow's blurry but emerald clear green eyes. 'Wow to that too.'

Callie helped Willow to sit in the bed, her back resting in a pile of pillows against the headboard and gave her some water before kissing her on the forehead. "I won't be gone long, sweetie, and I think mister Giles was planning on coming later today. He will be so glad to see you up!" She said with a content smile.

"Thanks again honey, I will be back soon." Callie hugged Althenea before making a hasty exit, leaving both girls staring at different part of the room, both too shy to try and take a look a each other again.

***************

'Wow. What's taking so long. You'd think she decided to kill Maegan, or jinxed her or something.' Wondered Althenea anxiously as she refrained from sighing. Again. Instead the young African girl left the comfy chair she had been sitting in for the last thirty minutes and allowed herself a little tour of the room.

One of the first thing she'd noticed when she came in earlier was how sterile the room was. No paintings, no pictures, nothing that could indicate a young woman was living here. Everything was white except for the thick purple comforter on the redhead's hospital bed, and a few touches of light blue and purple accessories throughout the room. 'That is so...depressing.'

Nea came closer to the dark wood dresser accross the room when a neat stack of small pink enveloppes caught her eye. There must have been probably four or five of them, all piled up and tied with a big paper clip. All had Willow's name with an unknown address in Bath written on them. Nea frowned when she noticed the seal, not one had been opened yet.

The young girl reached out to pick the pile when the rustle of fabric startled her, and made her drop the enveloppes on the ground. She turned around sharply to realized it was only because Willow had been attempting to lower herself in bed to lay down on her side. 'Ok, I guess I really need to calm down.' Nea thought sheepishly, especially she she saw the witch curl up in a ball and holding her stomach with a strained face . 'Crap! What's up with her?'

"Hey, you okay?" She asked timidly, not sure if she should get Callie, or do something herself. Nea was opting for trying something first but stopped when coming closer only seemed to upset Willow even more. "Hey, erm, I am not trying to do anything bad, okay? I just want to check if you're still running a fever. It won't take long, I promise." She explained soothingly, hoping it would work.

Althenea stood still and, after a quick prayer to the goddess, opened herself so Willow could feel she wasn't there to hurt her. 'If she's still capable to do that.' She held her breath when Willow slowly met her gaze, her eyes clearly searching her.

Nea grinned gently and, after a few minutes, closed the distance she had kept from the redhead when Willow finally relaxed and unclenched her body slightly. "Is that okay if I sit?" She asked, pointing at a wooden chair nearby. The young seer quietly sat after receiving the witch's meekly nod of approval, and softly put her hand to Willow's forehead.

Both girls gasped at the contact. Nea fell backwards clutching at her head while Willow started shaking badly. The redhead closed her eyes when her sight became blurry and painful, and the hurried footsteps entering her room were oblivious to her as hissing sound swiftly filling her ears, keeping her from hearing anything.

Willow flinched when hands were suddenly on her. She tried to pull back, afraid they were Maegan's, and cursed inwardly when she opened her eyes but couldn't make out who was at her side, holding her down. "I didn't do anything, I swear!" She blurted out as panick overwhelmed her.

"Shhhh, Willow calm down, it's okay, it's just me." Callie rushed, wanting nothing more than to release the girl but she knew it wouldn't be the smartest thing to do right now. One of them could get hurt, and Callie knew that, if Willow wouldn't forgive herself for it, the other witches wouldn't either.

Callie glanced behind her shoulder and was relieved to see that Althenea was doing better, and that her and Margaret was talking softly a few feet away. Focusing back on Willow, Callie turned the girl on her side and began, still holding her with one hand, gently rub her back with the other. "Stop fighting sweetie, you did nothing wrong, we're not mad I promise you."

The look on miss Harkness showed that, if she wasn't angry, she was still clearly worried. "What exactly happened, miss Fauster?"

Still rubbing nervously her temples, even if she didn't feel anything anymore, Althenea glanced one more time towards Willow. "I really don't know, miss, she didn't seem well and she was having a fever before, I just wanted to check if she was still sick, that's all."

Miss Harkness watched the young seer doubtfully. "And she let you approach her? Really?"

Nea sighed and nodded. "Yes, I promise! You think I would risk touching her if she didn't want to?" She argued, mumbling an apology when Callie heard the last part and glared.

"When I touched her, I felt, I felt, like I wanted to die." Nea finished in a whisper. "I felt so much pain, and fear. Guilt...She's in so much pain, miss. I thought we were supposed to help her, not torture her."

Nea's upset features weren't lost on miss Harkness or Callie. "She lost her lover, Nea, and did...things she suffers a lot of guilt for, we can't take that away you know that." Callie pointed out gently.

Nea shook her head vehemently. "No, you don't get it. She's in pain. Physical pain. Like if a train would have run her over kind of pain."

Eyes widened in dread, Callie met a pair of soft, regretful ones. "It's started, miss Maines." Margaret stated sadly.

***************

"But-"

"It wouldn't be a good idea right now, Buffy. I've told you this several times already. The timing isn't right." Giles iterated for the fifth time. He didn't want to lose patience with his slayer, but he was seriously running out of ideas as to explain Willow's constant absence.

He could just imagine Buffy pacing in her living room, frowning while trying her best not to yell. Giles knew it was coming though. They all accepted the 'period of transition' the man had requested when he first brought Willow with him to England, but it was now getting harder and harder to keep the truth away from his family back in Sunnydale. Especially now if...

"You're telling me that every time. I'm beginning to think that-" Buffy shouted. "That...Giles, please..."

"Buffy, she isn't ready, and neither are you. Last thing both of you needs is to crush that last thread of friendship because of a stupid phone call."

"What, you're scared I'll yell at her? I might be blonde Giles, but I'm not that brain dead! I'm still mad, you know. You have no idea how pissed I still am at her. But, she's my best friend Giles, she's...she's Willow. I just, I just need to know-" Giles's heart sank when he realized the efforts his girl was making to stay in control.

"I just want her to know we're still there for her." She whispered before hanging up.

Giles breathed out heavily as he turned off the engine of his car. His latest conversation with Buffy didn't turn the way he'd wanted to. As usual. 'Bloody nerves.' He hadn't been able to announce anything he should've had to them. 'First I will see how it goes today, and adjust from there', he decided firmly.

His gaze went back to the book nestled in the passenger seat. He had spent the last several days researching specific binding spells that weren't as intrusive as the ones the Coven had performed so far. Every waking moment that didn't involved the Council or the Coven were directed at finding an alternative solution for his young charge.

Giles had talked to an old friend who was also a doctor specialized in rather sensitive cases. He had already agreed to give him advice and help him settle Willow in his home once she will have moved in. Giles was confident that with his friend's help, combined with the new spell and the Coven, Willow would most probably recover from last spring. 'Physically at least', he thought glumly.

Margaret had seen Giles arrived. It took her a moment before deciding to go outside to join him, so she could talk to him before he got the chance to get to his girl's room.

Margaret Harkness always been great at remaining poised and composed, especially in moments of crisis. But she immediately discerned the dismayed look on the watcher's face when he saw her coming her way. The old woman frowned when she noticed the book Giles had just fetched from the front seat. 'What is he up to now?'

"Rupert, hello. I tried to phone you earlier, but there wasn't any answer." She greeted him.

Giles's concern grew instantly at the way miss Harkness welcomed him. "I had a meeting with the Council and I had a few errands to run." He justified himself uselessly. "What's going on?"

Margaret matched Giles's dynamic footsteps, walking side by side until they reached the porch. "Rupert." The woman tried gently, putting her hand on his forearm. "I warned you her sudden recovery wouldn't last." The witch sighed sadly when Giles refused to meet her gaze, his whole body tensing up under her explanations.

"Let's go into my office, we need to take some rather important decisions, Rupert."

Still gripping the small leather book tightly, Giles took a deep breath. "Fifteen minutes. That's all you have, then I'm taking her with me."

***************

"So basically you are telling me the girl's condition improved over the past week? I thought she was dying. In fact I believe Morris told me something about being a matter of days."

"I know sir, but it is rather difficult to get any information from Rupert Giles. He seems to be awfully protective of the witch." The young woman admitted while giving several pieces of paper to the older man.

Quentin Travers closed the book he had been staring at for the past ten minutes and accepted the handwrited notes. "Well, you will have to try harder, miss Shaw. Go visit the Coven if you must. I need to know the current situation concerning miss Rosenberg's magickal condition. Find out if she really is getting better, and I want a detailed report on every treatment, medical and magickal, the Coven put her through."

The young brunette stared curiously at his boss through her dark glasses for a few seconds before nodding and turning around, scribbling down notes on a thin notebook on her way out.

Travers waited for his assistant to close the door. He then fished a key out of his pocket and used it to open his desk's bottom drawer. The man picked up a number of files, choose two of them and put the rest aside.

Opening the first one, Travers carefully added the newest sheets of paper to the thick file. He flipped quickly through it with a satisfied smile on his face, barely glancing at the picture of a young redheaded woman attached on the first page as he closed the file. "I must admit, miss Rosenberg, you are quite the fighter. You will be a great asset to the Council, once we'll have you under control." The man talked softly to himself, a dry smile on his face.

"And if you won't submit, I will find ways to force you into obedience." He muttered as he put Willow's file above Buffy's, Dawn's and the others.


	7. Chapter 7

So sorry for the lack of updates lately. It should go back to more regular updates now, or at least it won't as long between them this time. Thanks for reading and those who reviewed, it is always appreciated and can also helps for inspiration.

***************

"Come on Rupert, we can settle this rationally!"

"Yes, right of course! Let's tie her up to her bed and monitor how long it'll take for her to bloody die!" Giles shouted, furious.

"You are taking what I said out of context, Rupert!" Margaret shot back. The head of the Coven had giving up long ago the idea of having a civilized conversation with the Watcher. 'The man is so bloody protective', she thought, irritated. "You think I want your girl to die? I may be old and dense sometimes, but I do believe she deserves one last chance. Otherwise I would not have accepted her here." 'And alienated half of my Coven in the process.'

"But." Giles commented, fully knowing that Margaret wasn't done yet. Sighing deeply, he dragged his tired body to the couch and almost plopped on it. Instead he sat slowly and gracefully before staring at his old friend.

A part of him just wanted to leave and go to Willow's room, and take her with him right away. Giles just stubbornly refused to accept what Margaret had told him, that Willow was dying despite their common efforts to save her.

Giles followed miss Harkness's moves around the room before she finally came to join him on the couch. "But." She gently said, her eyes never wavering from the Watcher's. "We are lucky she has lasted this long, Rupert. I have tried everything I could think of, but she broke every binding. The purging spells were excrutiating for her so we gave up on those, and we can't strip her from her powers. There's nothing left we can do."

"Yes, there is and you know it." He reminded her quietly. Being arrogant or bossy wouldn't help him to plead his theory, and it would certainly not help Willow.

Miss Harkness locked her eyes with Giles as she carefully chose her words. "We already went through this, Rupert. I can't simply let miss Rosenberg walk out of here with the amount of power she has. It would be too dangerous for others, as well as for herself. You are fully aware of that."

"Then help her control them. Teach her. Yes, I am aware how unstable she is right now, but it's mainly because she's never been trained, Margaret. Her first mentor was killed before she had the chance to teach her anything and Tara...had started to but Willow was already too far gone to really listen then. Please help her." Giles pleaded with her to give his plan a chance.

Margared gazed quietly at the sun peeking through the trees outside, praying to the Goddess to guide her in taking a decision. She couldn't allow the redhead to keep her magicks unrestrained, like Giles kept suggesting. It would be irresponsible to let loose a child with so much untamed powers in the world, it would make her an incredibly appealing and easy target to any witch or warlock in a desire of an astounding power boost.

Giles held his breath when the woman tore her sullen eyes away from the window to face him. "Callie found another spell. One that could tamper your girl's magicks permanently without having to drain her powers. If she make it through the night, we'll perform it tomorrow. If it fails and she...survives, I will consider training her. But you must question yourself, Rupert. Does she even want to be helped?"

***************

Callie found Maegan in the backyard, sitting under a majestic pine tree. The young woman seemed engrossed in some leather-bound obscure book, but Callie knew better.

The younger witch was listening to the Coven's vast surroundings, and to her sluggish approach.

"I don't want to talk."

"Fine, I just want you to listen." Callie stated seriously while taking a seat in the luscious grass in front of Maegan.

"There will be a general meeting tonight in the main room. Your presence will be mandatory." Callie explained gently, expecting an explosive reaction from the spiked-haired witch.

Maegan frowned as her features darkened. "Why? So I can be humiliated even more? It wasn't enough in miss Harkness's office, now it has to be in front of the whole Coven?"

"It won't be about you, Mae. Well, yes, partly, but it is mainly because miss Harkness decided to attempt another spell on Willow tomorrow."

Maegan scoffed as she stood. "Maybe you should see if she's still going to be around tomorrow. Might save us a lot of trouble if we just wait."

Callie sat, shocked at what Maegan said. She watched her leave angrily, but she soon stood up as well, her voice calm but stern as she spoke. "Just like what we should have done for you?"

The younger witch froze and tensed. "It's not the same and you know it! Don't you dare comparing me to her!" She snarled, although she had tears in her eyes. I did not choose to fall into that kind of magicks, I was forced into it!"

"She was doing it to help the slayer, Maegan. She forced herself into it and it backfired. She needs our help."

"That's crap. I am helping her because I promised to serve the Coven, even if she doesn't deserve to be helped. So if you expect me to be all nice and sweet with her, forget it. Or you will have to find someone else." She concluded shakily, openly glaring at Callie, as if daring her to add something.

Satisfied when only silence was heard, Maegan turned sharply on her heels and headed back to the mansion. "Main room, seven o'clock sharp in the main room. Be there." Callie's harsh voice echoed in her head as she telepathically reached her.

***************

A soft knock at the door woke up Althenea. She rubbed her eyes as she lifted her head to see who was coming in. She relaxed when she saw Giles grinned faintly at her, and smiled back as she pushed herself to a sitting position. She glanced curiously at Willow, who was curled up in he bed, still in a drug-induced sleep.

Nea startled and looked back at Giles. "Um, I'm sorry, what did you say?" 'I really need to pay attention more' she mentally chided herself.

Giles chuckled softly, being used to the girl's quirky self. "How are you doing, Nea? Margaret told me what happen earlier." He repeated to the young girl patiently as he sat on the edge of Willow's bed. He listened attentively at Nea's story while gently taking one of the redhead's hand in his own, and was beyond comforted when he found her pulse to be strong and steady.

"Are they going to help her?" Althenea softly inquired after she was done. She didn't like Callie and miss Harkness's grim expressions when they left the room two hours ago. Callie had come back to give Willow a sedative to reduce the pain and help her sleep, but she refused to talk about the situation and had left right after Nea had offered to stay and keep an eye on the redhead.

His warm hand still holding tenderly Willow's, Giles observed closely the younger witch, and was relieved when he noticed she was genuinely concerned. "They do want to help her, but they are getting out of ideas." He commented, wincing inwardly when he realized how sarcastic he had just sounded.

"We have different point of views on what the next step should be, so they set up a meeting for tonight." Giles glanced at Althenea as a plan was quickly formed in his head. "You would be willing to attend?"

"The meeting? I don't think I have the right to, yet. Especially when it's about specific concerns like when miss Harkness accepted miss Rosenberg within the Coven." She ruefully admitted, wishing she could be present with everybody else.

"I could take to Margaret if you would agree to participate. I am fairly certain today's incident between you two will be brought forward, and it would certainly help me if you could be there to explain what really happened."

***************

Giles yawned and ran a tired hand through his short hair as he slowly walked up the stairs, while his other hand lazily brushed against the cool and rough surface of the walls that welcomed him in the infirmary wing. Three antique brass lamps accross the room were lighting his pathway to Willow's private room.

His watch told him it was already half past eleven. The meeting had run way longer than expected, and it made Giles wonder once again if bringing the redhead here had been such a good idea.

They had managed to keep her alive so far, but the whole recovery plan wasn't going as planned. At all. But, despite the tension around the mansion, Giles knew the witches were doing everything they could. And they did succeed in partially taming the darkest magicks still lingering in the redhead's system.

The next course of plan would be determined tomorrow, as soon as the Coven would come up with a final decision about the watcher's plan. Until then, Giles had chosen to spend the night with Willow in her room. That way he would be able to watch her and, in the eventuality of the Coven's refusal to continue to help his young charge, he would only need a few minutes to pack her suitcase and take her back to his house. From there he would determine whether trying to take her back to Sunnydale or not.

Giles opened the door softly, careful as to not wake up Willow. He quietly removed his jacket and his shoes and peeked over to the girl's bed. The small lump under the thick covers was still, which indicated that Willow was asleep. Giles rejoiced about that and found comfort in the fact that the young woman would get the chance to get some of her strength back. 'Lord knows she's going to need it...'

The man glanced at his watch again and, taking a deep breath to push away all negative thoughts for the rest of the night, began Willow's night time routine. He went to get a new IV bag in the small freezer on the opposite side of the room and, after having thought for a moment, Giles went to the adjoining bathroom to get a cloth and a small basin of warm water.

After putting everything down on the other side of the bed, the watcher went to the window to close the curtains but, to his surprise, a soft voice stopped him. "Don't. Please."

"Willow." Giles shifted quickly and, granting the redhead's quiet request, left the curtains open so the crescent of moon in the midnight blue sky could continue to cast his soft glow into the room.

The watcher gazed tenderly at the girl, a small grin lighting his features. He steadily marched over to the bed and sat at her side, his eyes never leaving her face.

The dim glow coming from the moon accentuated the redhead's dark circles under her eyes, but it also gave her an air of innocence and vulnerability that reminded Giles of when he first met her. 'God, has it really been six years already?'

Willow was busy staring at the stars in the sky, her emerald eyes slightly glazed over but still surprisingly alert. Giles watched her for a moment, until he delicately took her frail hand into his own. Only then the young woman, almost regretfully, tore her eyes away from the sky to find herself to stare into warm but sad grey ones. Unable to maintain contact any longer than a second, Willow lowered her gaze on their hands.

Giles sighed wearily at the redhead's obvious desire to shy away from him. "What were you looking at just now", he offered, hoping that distracting her would help Willow to focus on anything besides her guilt and pain.

"Stars." She finally answered, her eyes never meeting his.

"Yes, the night is quite clear tonight. I believe it's been a while since I've seen such a beautiful sky." Giles closed his eyes for a moment and he tried to remember when exactly was the last time he had taken the time to do such a simple thing as stargazing. He couldn't even recall having done it for at least a year, he realized grimly.

The man slowly reopened his eyes and, just as Willow did when he arrived, lost himself into the starfull night. The closed windows couldn't allow them to feel the fresh breeze outside, but the soft but silent rustle of the trees made him want to run outside to feel the wind, to hear the owls, something that would divert his attention away from what would happen in the morning.

"How are you feeling?" he asked suddenly, taking the redhead by surprise. She stared at him, confused and unsure how to answer. "Hum...I'm fine." she mumbled evasively.

"Bollocks." Giles dropped her hand and leaned forward, his hand cupping her chin so she could not avoid him again. "I am serious, Willow, I want to know how you are feeling, in how much pain you are in."

His heart sank as he watched the girl he loved as if his own daughter fight back tears. He forced himself to remain calm as he felt her tremble, not wanting to add any more stress to her. Schock and anger quickly pushed all sense of calm as Willow finally voiced what he dreaded the most.

"Why does it matter? It won't make a difference, is it?"

Giles stood up abruptly and took a step back, otherwise he might not have been able to control himself and he would've most certainly smack her.

He would have if he had detected any trace of malice or defiance in her eyes. But, as he stared hard into Willow's watery eyes, all he could see was distress, despair and something else he hadn't notice before now. Something he or no one else have noticed, because they were more focused on keeping her alive to prepare themselves for anything else. The young woman before him was broken. Crushed.

What he had discussed with Buffy back in Sunnydale and in more than one occasion on the phone in the past weeks suddenly rushed back to him. 'How is she going to live with herself knowing what she did?'

"You think we are doing this in pity? That I've brought you all the way accross the world just so they could have fun with you? We are trying to save you, you bloody idiot!"

Willow flinched at his sudden outburst but kept her eyes on him nonetheless, afraid he might plan to hit her with the hand that was swinging wildly close to her. "You messed up Willow, you bloody well screwed up! But I made promises! I promised Buffy and Xander that I would take care of you, that I would help to get better so you can return to them."

"I promised myself I would try everything to make it up to you." He finished quietly, now somewhat ashamed for the way he had yelled. Glaring some more at the redhead to prove his point, Giles then had an idea. He quickly went to the desk in the corner of the room and picked up something from the top drawer.

His expression saddened when, on his way back, he discerned how Willow was vainly trying to find a more comfortable position in bed but was unable to do so because of the restraint and obvious pain that wracked her body.

Dumping the letters at the foot of the bed, Giles sat on the redhead's other side and, satisfied that the water in the basin was still lukewarm, dropped a washcloth in it. Mindful as to not disturb Willow too much, Giles reached over the girl and unfastened the restraint and massaged her wrist several seconds to help get rid of the confining sensation. "Is that better?"

Willow lifted up her face a little, glancing thankfully at him. "Yeah." Giles grinned softly at her but he did not talk. He wanted her to mull over what he had said, and try to make her understand that they were not trying to hurt her, but to help her.

He changed the IV bag without a word, and he was fully aware that Willow had slowly became both curious and distressed about the pink enveloppes he had left out of her reach on the bed. She had remained still while he worked on her arm, but now that he was done and that he was much closer to her, Giles could feel the warmth of her skin caused by yet another burst of fever.

Giles grew concerned when the girl whimpered when he accidentally brushed her side. "Willow, you have to tell me if you are in pain. Not saying anything won't help!"

Willow only hesitated a short moment before speaking, sensing it wouldn't be a smart idea to piss off Giles even more. "My stomach. Huh...my back. And, and my head."

She looked so miserable that Giles sighed as all the anger he had left deserted him, leaving him drained and exhausted. He dismissed her confused stare as he gently pulled the covers back until they were all resting at her feet. "Giles?"

"I just want to see if there's something wrong." He explained quietly as he gently probed her sides and stomach. He stopped promptly when she gasped and moaned after he had pressed on a particularly sensitive spot.

Giles watched her sweetly while wiping the tears that were trickling down her cheeks with his thumb. "I am so sorry Willow." Both heard the words for what they really were. Willow closed her eyes and bit back a fresh wave of pain. "Don't be. It's all my fault."

"No. I do have my share of resp-"

Willow shook softly her head, interrupting him. "Please, can we skip the blame game for tonight?"

"Fine, as you wish." Giles nodded before beginning to remove his watch and started to roll his shirt sleeves up. The watcher slowed his movements and got worried when he took in Willow's frightened expression and the way she looked apprehensively at him. Giles didn't miss how Willow was cradling her right arm protectively, as if she was daring him to use the restraint on her again.

"It's not what you think, there won't be any treatment tonight, I promise you." Giles resumed what he was doing under the redhead's suspicious stare.

He finally picked up the wet cloth from the basin and wrung it almost completely, before gently clean up the remaining tears that had dried on the redhead's drawn face. Seeing her girl close her eyes and sigh tiredly under his touch, Giles let the now cold cloth rest a little longer on her cheeks to soothe her feverish skin.

Once Willow had began to relax, Giles refreshed the cloth, rubbed a chunk of soap on it and slowly started to wash up her neck and arms. "I'm sorry it's not as fancy as what you girls are using normally, but Callie said you loved vanilla, and this one also have mint in it. Althenea made it herself for you, you know." Giles conversed casually.

He was fully aware at the way Willow was staring oddly at him as he softly ran the cloth down her arms and hands. She was eyeing him uncertainly, as if she wasn't exactly believing what was happening. That was when the watcher noticed something else that made him chuckled.

Willow's reaction at his laugh was priceless. "What?"

A soft knock at the door prevented him to answer immediately. Both glanced at the door, Giles smiling as Callie poker her head in. "It's me, can I come in?"

"Of course. She can come in, isn't she?" He asked slowly to Willow. Still too confused to form any coherent answer, the girl settled for a brief nod.

"Oh, my Goddess!" Callie exclaimed once she had made her way to the bed. Grinning broadly, the witch spoke without taking her eyes away from Willow. "You were right, mister Giles! It does makes her look precious."

Willow was starting to panick. First Giles was bathing her and now Callie stared at her as if her hair suddenly had changed color. "What, what's going on?"

Giles gave the cloth to Callie so she could rinse the soap away and turned to smirk at Willow. "I believe you, my dear, are blushing."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are, and you just turned a shade deeper ever since Callie arrived." He teased her gently. "You have to idea how pleased I am to see you like that, Willow." Giles leaned down carefully and hugged her before giving her a fatherly kiss on her forehead. "You will make it, Willow. We will do everything to see to that."

With one last kiss Giles stood up and seized the forgotten enveloppes on the bed. "This is most important reason why you will get better and return home to those who love you, eventually." He gave the letters to Callie and smiled. "I am going to get some tea while you finish up. Give her the enveloppes when you're done, will you?"

Callie swiftly dried her hands on a towel and accepted them. "Of course, mister Giles."

Giles sighed and went directly for the door, knowing there was always a tea kettle in the lounge. He had only closed Willow's door when Margaret Harkness made her presence known in the room. "We need to talk, Rupert. We have made our decision."


End file.
